Scaffold-ladder.



' J; R. JONES.

. SOAFFOLD LADDER-. APPLICATION FILED 'snr'r. 1 e, 1901.

' Patented Mayll,

2 aligns-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES.

THE NORRIS PETERS cm, wnsmnnrou. n. c.

'J. -R. JONES. $GAFFOLD LADDER. APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 10, 1907.

Patented May 11, 1909/ I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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THE NORRIS PETERS ca, wnsunvowu, n! c.

JOHN- R. JONES, OF OSHKOSH,'WISGONSIN.

SGAFFOLD-LADDER.

Specification of Letterslatent.

Patented May 1 1, 1909.

Application filed September 16, 190 7. Serial N 0. 393,256.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN R. J ONES, residing in Oshkosh, in the county of Winnebago and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Scafiold-Ladders, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a scaffold ladder ada ted for supporting a scaffold in a horizonta position by means of brackets, said brackets being adjustable. in position to permit the scaffold being located eneath or on top of the ladder as found most convenient.

Another object of this invention is to provide a scaffold bracket which will be capable of adjustment on the ladder by a person standing at the foot of the ladder or on the ladder itself or on the scaffold, said bracket being capable of securely engaging the ladder in its various adjustments to prevent accidental movement. I

Another object of the invention is to ac complish the above objects by means of a bracket slidably mounted on the ladder and having a rope controlled latch for engaging the ladder rungs, the supporting arms of said bracket being jointed and adjustably connected with the bracket frame so as to alter the angle of the bracket with relation to the ladder and permit the scaffold carried thereby to remain horizontal whether it is above or beneath the ladder.

Another object of this invention is to provide a clamp for s licing the ends of ladder sections together by engaging the rungs of the ladder sections between two clamping members, and causing said clamping members to forcibly tighten thereon by means of cam engagements between them operated by a screw moving one clamping member with relation to the other, said splicing clamp being designed to effectively clamp the ladder sections together without interfering with the operation of the adjustable scaffold bracket.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in the scafiold'ladder herein claimed, its parts and combinations of parts and all equivalents.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts in the several views; Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a scaffold ladder constructed in accordance with this invention, having the scaffold bracket in position for supporting the scaffold beneath the ladder; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof showing the scaffold bracket in position for supporting the scaffold above the ladder, and Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the ladder as shown in Fig. 1.

In these drawings 10 represents a ladder section of. usual construction, preferably provided with rollers 11 at its up )er end to ride upon the wall, and having a pu lley 12 secured between a pair of cross pieces 13 similar to rungs at its end around which pulley asses a hoisting rope 14. One end of the fioisting rope connects with the top rod 15 of a bracket frame which is made up of a series of round horizontal cross rods 15, of which the above mentioned is one, and side pieces 16,

the cross pieces bearing upon the side rails of the ladder and being longer than the entire width of the ladder so that the side pieces are outside of the side rails of the ladder. The side pieces 16 are connected by U-shaped bolts or clamps 17 with back ieces 18 which extend across the back of the ladder and bear against the side rails, there being blocks 19 within the U-shaped bolts and between the back pieces 18 and the side strips 16 to properly space the back pieces from the front portion of the frame. By means of this con struction a strong frame is provided which is freelyslidable on the ladder without binding.

Besides the round cross pieces 15 the bracket frame is provided at an intermediate portion with a pair of parallel cross pieces 20 which are square in cross section, and to the rear of which are secured blocks 21 to beengaged by a pair of latches 22 which are pivoted in the frame by being mounted on one of the round cross pieces 15 loosely mounted in the side pieces so as to be frce'to turn. This round cross piece 15 on which the latches are mounted is desirably spring pressed. by means of a coil spring 22 surrounding it so as to normally hold the latches in engagement with the blocks 21'. The latches 22 are proferably of a hook shape to engage the rungs of the ladder as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and lock the frame against a downward movement.

The latches 22 have forwardly extending adder, and then beneath the lower rung of the ladder, as with rope 14', and then to the projection 23 where it is again connected. The end of the hoisting rope 1e after passing beneath the lower rung of the ladder con nects with one of the lower cross pieces of the bracket frame.

One of the round cross pieces 15 of the bracket frame end has the two side pieces of the bracket member 26 pivotally mounted thereon by means of looped metal straps 27 secured to said member and surrounding the cross piece. This bracket member 26 has its side pieces connected by cross pieces to fornti a frame for supporting a scaffold, and a bolt 28 in its outer end pivotally connects a brace member 29 thereto, the bolt passing through the side pieces of the bracket member 26 and of the brace member 29, which together form the bracket of the bracket frame 16. There are preferably rollers 30 mounted on. the bolt 28 ands aced apart by a sleeve 31 to )revent the b1tC-6l3 scraping against the wall. The brace frame 29 is made up of the side pieces and the cross pieces, similar to the bracket frame 26, and the lower ends of its side pieces are forked to receive any one of the cross ieces 15 at the lower part of the bracket frame 16, there being curved metal strips 3:32 secured to the back of these ends to securely engage the rear of the cross pieces 15 and hooks 33 pivoted to these ends to securely engage the front of the cross pieces, the hooks 33 being preferably of sheet metal and gravity operated by reason of their shape and the location of their pivot, so that they normally closeupon the cross pieces 15 in any operative position of the ladder. The hooks are confined in their movements by stop pins 34.- and have outwardly turned upper ends to form projections by which they may be swung out of engagement for the purpose of changing the adjustment of the bracket.

When a ladder is used for supporting a scaffold at the greatest height, the ladder is turned so that the bracket will be on top thereof as shown in Fig. 2, and then the brace member 29 is engaged with one of the lower cross pieces 15 to make the bracket member 26 approximately horizontal. In this position of the bracket it may be run up to very near the extreme upper end of the ladder, the scaffold being supported on the brackets of a pair of such ladders by resting upon the bracket members 26. As the work progresses and it is desired to lower the scaffold, the rope 14 at the back of the ladder is first pulled downwardly so as to slightly lift the bracket frame and clear the latches 22 from the rung of the ladder with which it was engaged, then the rope 24 at the back of the ladder is pulled downwardly to cause the latches 22 to swing against the action of their spring so as to clear the line of the rungs, and then by allowing the bracket to descend on the ladder by gravity with the latch held released by means of its rope 24 l t l l l bracket frame, l. have provided and controlling the speed of descent by means of the rope 14 the bracket may lac lowered to any desired position and again locked by releasing the rope 24 so that the spring returns the latches to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 where they will engagxr a rung of the ladder and he braced by t re blocks 21 to securely lock the brack t in place. its the brackets are lowered on their ladders the scaffold supported thereby naturally mm vs farther anuy from the wall of the building by reason of the inclined position of the h ders, and to prevent inconymiirncc from this cause, each adder may be rover. so as to bring the bracket beneath it or l1etween it and the wall, as shown in Fig. '1, and then by hang 1:1 the on 'cnient of the brace member J from the lower cross piece 15 to a higher one the single of the lzrar'kct may be changed to cause the hrarkt-t int-urbcr thereof to return to a horizontal position and the scal'lold may thus lie supported nearer to the building than when the bracket remains above the ladder. in order that the ladder of this invention may further in oid forming too great a distance between the wall and the scali'old, it is made in sections by which it maybe shortened from timc to time as the work progresses, and to hare a spliciinz means for the sections of the ladder which will not interfere with the travel of the the ladder splicing clamp shown in hi 2%, and $3. This splicing clamp conn a a pair of clamping members 36 and or having ongaged cam hooks $58 at reggtnlar inteiwas.

opted to receive the. rungs 39 of the ladder between them and between the cam books 38 of clamping member 37 and cross pieces so thereon, which latter extend to the side rails of the ladder and bear thereon. The clamping member 37 has a clamping screw 4] threaded in a projection thereof and hearing on the clamping member 36 so as to cause them tomovc with relation to each other in a direction to force the pairs of cam hooks 3H together and result in clamping the clamping members tightly upon the ruin of the ladder therebetween. This ladder splicing clamp is connected with the rungs of the meeting); ends of two ladder sections so that the are lirmly held together, their side rails having their ends fitting in tubular i'nctal sleeves T his splicing means does not interfere with the operation of the bracket frame as the side pieces of the brace frame 29 will pass on opposite sides of the clamping members 36 and 37 and the sleeves 42 may be freely passed by the bracket frame.

When it is desired to raise the bracket frame the latch rope need not reeeire at;- tention, as it is only necessary to pull down upon the hoisting rope 14 at the rear of the ladder and thereby lift the bracket frame,

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the latches 22 on striking the rungs of the ladder being forced to swing against the ac tion of their spring until they clear the rung and spring into position to engage it on the upper side thereof.

When the ladder is made up of several sections the ropes are correspondingly lengthened so as to reach to near the ground and permit of the change inposition of the scaffold by a person standing on the ground. When desired the single ladder section containing the bracket may be suspended from a main inclined ladder so that said ladder section will hang vertically, and thus further assure the scaffold remaining at a definite distance from the wall.

What I claim as my invention is;

1. A scaffold ladder, comprising a ladder member, a bracket frame slidably mounted thereon, and provided with a series of cross ieces, a bracket member provided with oop straps pivotally connecting it with one of the cross pieces of the bracket frame, and a brace member pivotally connected therewith and provided with means for releasably engaging one or another of the cross pieces of the bracket frame for varying the angle of the bracket member.

2. A scaffold ladder, comprising a ladder member, a bracket frame slidably mounted thereon and provided with a series of cross pieces, a bracket member pivotally connected on one of the cross pieces of the bracket frame, a brace member pivotally connected therewith and formed at its lower end to fit one or another of the cross pieces, metal plates on the brace member engaging the cross pieces of the bracket frame when the brace member is engaged therewith, and gravity hooks on the brace member for also engaging said cross pieces and cooperating with the metal plates to hold the brace member in its adjustments on the bracket frame.

3. A scaffold ladder, comprising a air of ladder members, a bracket frame s idably mounted thereon, a bracket carried by the bracket frame, means for moving the bracket frame and holding it in its adjusted positions, and a splicing clamp for locking the ladder members together end to end without interfering with the movements of the bracket frame, comprising a pair of clamping members having cooperating cam hooks, and a screw mounted on one clamping member and engaging the other clam ing member for causing them to tightly 0 amp the rungs of the ladder members between them.

4. A scaffold ladder, comprising a air of ladder members, a bracket frame s idably mounted thereon, a bracket carried by the bracket frame, means for moving the bracket frame on the bracket members and for holding it in its adjusted positions thereon, sleeves receiving the ends of the side rails of the lad- .der members and a ladder splicing clamp consisting of a pair of clamping members having cooperating cam hooks, cross pieces on one of the clamping members to engage the side rails of the ladder members, and a screw on one clamping member engaging the other clamping member for causing the cam hooks to draw the clamping members together and clamp the rungs of the ladder members between them.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN R. JONES.

Witnesses:

R. S. O. CALDWELL, ANNA F. SOHMIDTBAUER. 

